CEP SENDS LOCAL 191 MEMBER TO PERU:
Pearl Bainbridge from The Winnipeg Free Press

Perseverance in the face of grinding poverty and exploitation -- that is the impression Free Press design artist Pearl Bainbridge took away from a week-long visit to several Peruvian communities receiving benefits from the Humanity Fund of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

Representing western Canadian members of our union, Pearl was part of a delegation of three, visiting workers to Peru earlier this summer. The full report of her visit is available at our Website at www.mts.net/~mum.

Pearl, 44, is a graphic designer in the Free Press creative services department. She joined the staff of the newspaper 15 years ago.

In an interview after her return, Pearl told PrintCEPles she was appalled by the poverty and exploitation of the people she met in Peru and encouraged by the help they are receiving through CEPÕs Humanity Fund. The fund is based on voluntary contributions of one cent per hour from the wages of thousands of CEP members throughout Canada. Pearl said she would favour a doubling of contributions if that were possible under the unionÕs bylaws and regulations.

"We were in Peru between May 26 and June 2 and the people we met were truly wonderful," she said.

"They live very simple lives, have very few possessions and their main priority in life literally is survival on a day-by-day basis.

"Living in this country with our degree of affluence we really cannot feel or imagine what these people face every day. The amazing thing is how friendly and at times cheerful they can be despite their suffering."

Some of the most regrettable things she saw, Pearl said, included "this feeling of chaos and desperation in their daily living, the incredible air pollution people have to live and work in, the glimmer of hope as they work on the very edge of hopelessness. They want to get ahead and can't.

"Their needs are so very immediate. They need to get bread on the table every evening. They can't worry about the pollution or the danger of getting injured on the job. Providing day-to-day survival for their families is the only priority. And through all this, they are polite, friendly and even cheerful about their lives."

Pearl said her group "witnessed many women working on the streets of Lima. Some are employed as traffic regulation officers on raised platforms at dangerous intersections with traffic lights, oblivious to incredible noise and pollution from vehicles, most of them with diesel engines. Ironically, the motorists donÕt seem to take any notice of the traffic officers who are supposed to keep traffic orderly."

Women working as street cleaners start their shifts at the break of dawn before traffic gets heavy, yet still wrap scarves around their mouths to keep dust and pollution out, Pearl said.

"In congested, chaotic traffic jams, when motorists are stopped at traffic lights, many individuals walk from the sidewalks onto the roadway. Many of them are women, young and old, able or disabled. They hurriedly weave in and out between cars, trying to sell everything from toothpaste to candy, from mops to Harry Potter books translated into Spanish. Ð These womenÕs faces are not covered with scarves to protect them from diesel and gasoline fumes."

People working in fields or factories are exposed to toxic byproducts involved in what they produce, exposing them to illness and injury, Pearl said.

"Yet, there isnÕt any control or enforcement of proper safety equipment or health and safety education."

Self-help systems to make survival a little easier include a micro business start-up loans known as "Choba-Choba" or "You-help-me, I-help-you" banks. WomenÕs community organizations use the system to maintain soup kitchens, mothers' clubs and milk distribution systems. With 400 Peruvian Soles buying one Canadian dollar, the average annual per-person income of Peruvians stands at the equivalent of $2,200 Can. Seventy-four per cent of Peruvians live in poverty. A fifth of them -- 5 million of the countryÕs population of 25 million -- suffer extreme poverty. Almost half the wage earners in the country have no steady jobs and half of those make their living in the undocumented underground economy. Only 60,000 people in a labour force of about 11 million are organized in unions and bargain collectively, Pearl said.